A Lack Of Praise
This sounds almost comical, but I have seen it first-hand. BusinessWeek.com’s article – Is Praising Employees Counterproductive? – discusses the topic of praising employees for their good work. The gist of the article:
After the meeting, James asked Tom, “What were you going to say at the meeting, and why did you stop?” Tom answered: “I was going to praise Penny on her marketing plan, but I’ve already praised her twice this week. I don’t want to go overboard.”
There is a fear—an irrational one, in my experience—among certain managers of praising employees too much. It’s as though they believe that one “attaboy” or “attagirl” too many can spoil a good employee.
I worked for a manager who took this approach. I always felt his motivation was different – he didn’t want to praise me (or any other salesperson) because he thought we would use that praise to demand a higher salary. Instead of praise, he would say good, ok, fine…those types of things. He was always more thorough in his criticism. The net result of his style was to feel like you were being criticized far more for your mistakes than praised for your successes. The net effect was demoralizing.
If you praise an employee, s/he’ll expect more money.
This argument is easily countered if, when an employee asks about a possible uptick in pay, you share with him or her the financial drivers for your business. If you praise an employee and her response is “Thanks for the praise, now can I have a salary increase?” you can show her how the firm’s operating expenses and its revenues tie together—and most important, let her know the specific results that would make bigger salaries possible. Those might include an increase in sales, a reduction in costs, or both. The more specific you can be, the more your employee will understand where the dollars in her paycheck come from, and what she can do to influence her earning power.
May I also suggest that if you are praising an employee frequently, maybe they are deserving of a raise? Voluminous opportunities to praise an employee are usually indicative of a strong employee. That outcome wasn’t my intention in my previous position. The fact that the manager had this thought pattern made me think he was a fairly shallow manager.
Posted By Derrick Moe | Sales Management,Team Management | | 
Comments(1)
A worthy discussion and I support Derrick’s basic positions.
I do not agree with the connection built between praise (a form of positive and immediate recognition) and compensation. Each has a role in employee satisfaction and motivation, but for different reasons. Compensation is a key element of the basic contract between company and employee – you perform this role and we will compensate you with this package (salary, bennies, stock options, etc.)and addresses a lot of the extrinsic needs of the employee.
Recognition (whether formal like banquets,plaques or incentive awards or informal like attaboys and praise) serve the intrinsic human need for recognition and validation. At the least, praise shows that someone is paying attention. It makes us feel valued and worthwhile, while monetary compensation will not satisfy the same needs.
What the anecdote really tells me is this – first,the “don’t praise too often” manager does not understand, in general, the role of compensation vs the role of recognition, and second, they are afraid of discussing these important matters with their employees.
Holding back praise is self-protective behavior, not one that will generate trust, stimulate performance or keep the employee from looking elsewhere for a more positve work environment.